I don’t do this often enough. I suspect you don’t either.
I don’t go outside and just sit in the beauty. It’s important to do that occasionally.
To breathe in the Beauty of the Earth and its Peace.
To breathe in the Quiet and its calm.
To still our souls and minds so we can hear our thoughts and emotions.
To recognize Peace and to sink into it.
Peace be with you.
The start to Winter Holidays were long cold nights when everyone was crowded together inside and no one went out but to hunt and care for the animals. And in days when the days were not about gifting and more about celebrating and dancing (ok, and probably drinking), the holidays were probably more fun.
However we got to lavish and wildly expensive gift giving, I’m not excited.
This year I’m scaling back. I say this who was always a lousy giver of gifts! I’m giving gifts to the kids and the adults are getting donations to important organizations that will change our world. And suddenly, I feel so much more generous. It makes me happy. It makes me feel useful.
It also lessens the amount of crazy running that I do. And who wouldn’t celebrate that? And truth be told, it shifts my sense of loss of family to a connection with the wider world. I have family, whom I adore and of whom I am fiercely proud and for whom I’m incredibly grateful. And now I have a world that I feel responsible to, as well.
The holidays are wonderful if we fill them up with people we love and fun events. They become less so when we stuff them with assignments. Whatever you ponder during your holy days, why not give yourselves some down time to do that. Mull some cranberry juice, or some wine, light some candles and settle in.
Peace is in the beauty, not the crazed running around. Find yourself a lovely slice of Peace and consider your world — all its beauty — and all the places you’re going to use your powers for good!
We’re needed. And so is the Peace we bring, in Winter’s lovely short days and beautiful long nights and all the rest of the year, too. Let’s Peace.
Up early this morning, not quite early enough to see the coming of the light… since sunlight was a bit subdued.
But the Sun is rising about as early as it will rise all year. Only four more minutes to add to the day from the morning side… (a few more than that for the evenings).
Quiet golden dawns are an invitation to reflection… Sabbath is an invitation to reflection. I keep wondering about, poking at the notion that I might start Sabbath at sundown Friday along with so many of my friends and enjoy it all the way through Sunday sundown. I would want to live deliberately during that time; to be present and conscious…
Maybe that can be a goal for my time away this summer… slow, peaceful days — with some fun in the sun with my favorite folk tossed in.
It’s early, here, but I have a bit of sermon to polish and tuck into my ipad. Wishing you a lovely day, hot and humid as it is…
